Our guide to the myriad renditions of Dickens, as essential to the season as snow and Santa

Cast: Director Ray Frewen wrote this adaptation, now in its 12th year, with John Reeger in mind for the role of Scrooge--and the actor is finally performing it. Because of school-day matinees, the role of Tiny Tim could not go to a child and is played by (short) adult actress Deb Monson.

Ghosts: The Ghost of Christmas Present wears a traditional, fur-trimmed green robe adorned with lights, with two orphans hiding underneath. Future is a seductive Victorian woman in a bustle and veiled hat, drawing Scrooge toward his death.

Music: The show opens with cast members singing "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" and prerecorded background music includes contemporary, child-friendly tunes by Mannheim Steamroller.

Neato: A grown-up Tiny Tim narrates the play from the beginning so that children will know that the story turns out well in the end.

Cast: Scrooge is played by Jefferson Award winning actor William Brown who, in his third time in the role, goes for a thinking man's Scrooge than a characterization Elijah Roberts, a 6-year old from Orland Park makes his stage debut as Tiny Tim.

Ghosts: The Ghost of Christmas Past is garbed in a shimmering white dress lit from within and Present, the life of the party in this production, sprinkles glitter to remind people of the true meaning of Christmas.

Music: Four live musicians perform Joe Cerqua's original score onstage, and the cast sings to Cerqua's arrangements.

Neato: Two characters take flight

'The Last Christmas Carol'

Beverly Arts Center, 2407 W. 111th St., 773-445-3838. $20. Dec. 3-12.

Size: 50 actors in 50 roles

Cast: In this musical comedy show-within-a-show, Patrick O'Brien Higgs portrays a Scrooge-like disgruntled children's theater director who discovers the joy of Christmas as he attempts to stage a production of "A Christmas Carol."

Ghosts: The Ghost of Christmas Past is a smooth-talking, sarcastic ex-agent of the children's theater director; Present a bubbly, energetic female theater critic and Future a hip teenager who sells newspapers with headlines from, well, the future.

Neato: This professional production, which incorporates students from the Beverly Arts Center's Young Actors Studio, includes the ghost of a bad Elvis impersonator portrayed by Second City actor Otis Fine.

Cast: Steve O. Harvey, a stand-up comic, plays Scrooge for the third year--and approaches the role as straight as Dickens wrote it. (Initially the actors planned to select a child from the audience to play Tiny Tim, but because they couldn't guarantee a youngster at each performance, the role went to an adult male actor.)

Ghosts: The Ghost of Christmas Past is dressed in a white monk's robe, Present carries a staff and Future is traditionally foreboding.

Music: Pre-recorded Old English carols and an audience sing-along with the actors at the end.

Neato: The three-act play is performed between courses on two stages at either side of the restaurant's Tudorstyle dining room.

Cast: A veteran of the Metropolis summer arts camp, 10-year-old Teddy Marzolf from Arlington Heights makes his professional stage debut as Tiny Tim. And a former King Lear, Mark Douglas- Jones, plays Scrooge.

Ghosts: Ghost of Christmas Present is played as a traditional Father Christmas--with hints of Mother Earth--in a costume of twigs, branches and berries. Future, it seems, the company wants to keep a surprise.

Music: Original arrangements of 15 early French and English carols performed by four live musicians.

Neato: Even crew members get costumes--to make scene changes as seamless as possible.